


The Price

by BlueNeutrino



Series: All your Science and your Questions [2]
Category: Deus Ex (Video Games), Deus Ex: Mankind Divided
Genre: Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-24
Updated: 2020-02-24
Packaged: 2021-02-27 23:22:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 605
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22883980
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlueNeutrino/pseuds/BlueNeutrino
Summary: Vadim Orlov survives Madame Photographe’s attempt on his life, though with a price now on his head, the hostile streets of Prague drive him to seek help from the very man he’s been tasked to watch.
Relationships: Adam Jensen/Vadim Orlov
Series: All your Science and your Questions [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1644922
Comments: 1
Kudos: 14





	The Price

**Author's Note:**

  * For [JulyanC](https://archiveofourown.org/users/JulyanC/gifts).



> Thank you to Julyan for all her wonderful art and inspiration for this series, and helping to tell the fucked up story of Orlov and Jensen. 
> 
> Since this series is something of a patchwork, to fill readers in: Adam’s time in Alaska ended with him making a deal where McFadden would alter the settings on the aug inhibitor to allow Adam to make an escape. Though of course, at the time he still didn’t know McFadden’s true identity or the extent of what was done to him.

There’s a lot of blood. Adam is grateful for the enhanced strength in his augs as he carries the sagging weight of the man at his side through his apartment door, augmetic arm hooked under an organic shoulder struggling to support the body attached. McFadden is hardly a huge weight, but he’s dragging his feet, barely conscious and bleeding heavily. Adam curses that he’s going to have to clean up the bloody handprints on the balcony lest it gives some anti-aug busybody an excuse to call the cops.

“What happened to you?” Jensen demands, balking at the red smearing across his floorboards as he pulls McFadden across the threshold.

“They turned on me,” his former doctor pants through gritted teeth. “Didn’t know where else to go.”

“Who turned on you? What are you doing in Prague?”

“Here because...you…” He’s struggling to speak as they make it to the couch and Adam lowers him down, kneeling to get a better look at the bullet wound in McFadden’s abdomen. The man’s face is pale, a message on Adam’s HUD warning that he’s displaying signs of shock. Adam didn’t need telling.

“Hold still.” Ignoring McFadden’s whimper of pain, Adam glances at the blanket draped over the back of the couch and decides it’s a worthwhile sacrifice. He grasps the fabric and bunches it in his hand as he presses it to the wound. “Can you keep the pressure on that? I’ll get the first aid kit…”

McFadden cries out, but does his best to grasp the material feebly and keep it in place. Adam stands and hurries towards the kitchen, mind racing when he hears McFadden’s voice again.

“Adam, be careful. If they came for me they might try to get to you next. You were getting too close. The experimental augs...”

Adam freezes. The first aid kit is lying in one of the drawers just a few feet away, but he doesn’t try to reach it. Slowly, he turns to face McFadden again.

“Experimental augs?”

“You weren’t supposed to find out. Not like this…”

“How do you know about those?”

There’s no response save for McFadden’s ragged breathing. Like a rush of ice tumbling down Adam’s spine, the penny drops.

“You’re Vadim Orlov, aren’t you?”

Drooping eyelids struggle to widen, and Adam registers the look of fear. _Oh, how the tables have turned._

“Adam, it isn’t like…not like that...” 

His voice fades, breath shuddering as his face goes slack. Adam wonders if it’s a ruse or if he’s genuinely lost consciousness.

Abandoning the first aid kit, Adam strides back over and kneels beside the bleeding man, pushing the blanket aside to press his knuckles sharply into the wound.

A sharp burst of breath passes Orlov’s lips, accompanied by a weak moan. “Don’t you dare pass out on me yet, Orlov,” Adam growls. “I want answers, and if you want my help, you’re going to give them.”

Orlov’s lips move feebly, and Adam thinks he reads the word “ _please”._ Then the man again falls still.

“ _Hey._ Look at me.” He pushes his fingers harder against the wound to no response. Growing anxious, Adam reaches for Orlov’s throat and feels for a pulse. 

What feels like several seconds pass before the sensors in his fingertips manage to detect any changes in pressure, then Adam thinks he can discern the faint throbbing, far too rapid and thready when most of the blood that should be in Orlov’s veins is currently smeared across the floor.

Adam heaves a breath, coldness gripping his insides as he realises if he wants answers, he’s going to have to help him after all.


End file.
